Quinoa in recent years has got itself a bit of a reputation as a superfood and after doing a little research I began to see why. Quinoa is the only plant food that contains all 10 essential amino acids for the human diet, it is a source of vitamin E, vitamin B2 and contains more calcium, potassium, magnesium (helps relax your muscles and blood vessels and effects blood pressure) and phosphorus than other grains.

The manganese and copper in quinoa is a good source of these minerals that act as antioxidants in your body to get rid of dangerous cancer and disease-causing substances.

Research has shown that quinoa can prevent and reduce osteoporosis, breast cancer and other conditions that are caused by the lack of oestrogen after the menopause.

All great reasons for eating this super food, I try where possible to eat healthy, balanced meals that offer the building blocks the body needs and due to the vast amount of cake I eat I really have to do this. People ask “how come you don’t put on weight’, the answer is simple, I eat cake for breakfast and lunch, then a healthy balanced meal at dinner, not ideal I know, but I just love cake.

Now all this may be true and that is a great reason to be eating quinoa, but for me it is all about the texture, I love the little fine grains and they are perfect for taking on other flavours. In the case of this recipe it was lovely fresh mint, basil, parsley, garlic and lemon, throw in a little salty feta and you have another fantastic side dish. In every bite you get a lovely mixture of texture, a zing from the lemon, a soft, saltiness from the feta and then to freshen it all up the fresh herbs come in.

So who knows, the sun may return to us soon, al fresco dining maybe back on the menu and you may just be looking for a healthy side dish, so what could be better than this tasty but very healthy herby quinoa salad.

Buon appetito

Serves 6

300g quinoa
a handful of fresh basil, very finely chopped
a handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, very finely chopped
a small handful of fresh mint, very finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
150g feta cheese, crumbled
Juice of 1 lemon freshly squeezed
2 table spoons olive oil
1 tablespoon capers, drained (I left these out as we don’t like them)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

First thing to do is to put the kettle on to boil.

Rinse the quinoa in a sieve under cold running water, then transfer to a saucepan. Cover the quinoa with the boiling water until it is just covered and put on a medium heat. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until the grains are tender, then drain well and set a side to cool in a serving bowl.

Using only the leaves of the herbs only, put the herbs, garlic and capers into a food processor and chop on a pulse setting, but make sure that you don’t puree the mixture. I didn’t pre-chop any of the herbs or crush the garlic, I just rather lazily threw it all into the processor.

Add the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and black pepper, pulse once or twice just to make sure that it is all thoroughly combined.

Now crumble the feta over the cooled quinoa, pour over the herb dressing and mix well.